Morning Read: G20 Punts on Japan, Yen Weaker Still

By Brendan Conway

Market check: Index futures point higher, gold’s price leaps more than $30 to $1,428 and the yen weakens to the cusp of per dollar. Copper’s price is down again, to $3.14, while natural gas loses 2% to $4.32.

Fund watch: The Group of 20 was docile on Japan’s aggressive easing this weekend, which is helping pushing down the yen. “The dollar stopped short of achieving ¥100 on Monday failing at a peak of ¥99.70. However, it would seem that many traders expect the interim target to be reached at some point this week,” writes Miller Tabak’s Andrew Wilkinson. “The question is how quickly the yen falls upon triggering what Thomson Reuters described as a ‘massive’ volume of protective stops. As we saw with the price of gold lately, weakness breeds further weakness with yen holders likely to sell upon news that ¥100 has been triggered.”

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Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.